U.K. Voters Punish Government Parties

Labour Makes Big Gains in Local Elections Amid Spending Cuts and Recession, but Tory Mayor Johnson Wins in London

By

Cassell Bryan-Low

Updated May 4, 2012 8:48 p.m. ET

LONDON—British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party suffered heavy losses in local elections around the country, adding pressure on a coalition government that has had a series of policy mishaps over the past month.

The setback, two years after the Conservative-led coalition took office in 2010, saw the Tories lose about one-third of their seats in the contest for almost 5,000 seats across about half of the local...